Making Plans

I have been hunting through my offcuts of fabric today trying to find a bit big enough to squeeze these shorts out of...

A friend passed this pattern on to me and I would like to try it out now that the weather is so nice, unless I do one leg each colour I am not sure I will manage it out of the pieces I have left. There is a stripy sheet but they may be too see through, oh what to do?   I have put the pattern and the pile of fabric to one side for now and will have another think about it tomorrow.  The rest of the day has been spent in the garden, walking the dogs and hoovering and sorting etc.

I have ordered  a used Burda magazine from ebay, mainly because I watched a browse through of it and liked some of the styles and also because it was only a couple of pounds.  I will see how I like it when it arrives, all of the printed Burda patterns I have are a good accurate size so I would like to see how the magazine works out.  A lot of people swear by it but I have often picked it up in shops and not been that taken with the styles, I watched a youtube video of someone flicking through this one and then found it for sale.

While I was shopping in the supermarket I bought myself another roll of baking paper purely for pattern tracing so I am all set for when the magazine arrives.  I have tried on a number of occasions to contact Knipmode magazine with a view to subscribing but they never return my emails.  I know there are people in the UK that receive it and they say contact via email. I have give up on that now I suppose they are saving me some money by not responding!

My me made may day 18 outfit is a dress by kwik sew that I made with Minerva fabric, a wrap dress.  I think this is only the second time I have worn it so that just shows the pointlessness of saving for best.

Now I managed to carry a large bag of compost from the car without getting dirty and planted up and re-potted some things so it is possible to live life without jeans I am finding;)  though some of those shorts would be great!

Keep smiling everyone and take care.

Hoody Refashion Reveal

Hello I have had a lovely day messing about with my refashion project, it has been so relaxing I think mainly because there is no new fabric involved, or timescale and it has just been evolving as it went along I suppose.  Beware  many photo's coming up, so here is the finished jacket/cardi or whatever you want to call it and it now fits perfect.

What are those flowery bits of Amy Butler fabric doing at the front I hear you say, well let me explain as this jacket has been something of a Frankenstein project when I cut up the original hoody there was not enough fabric to cut many of the burda pieces in full.  As a result I have pieced bits together here and there.  I didn't want a join showing there at the front so I thought I would embellish it a bit.

Here is where I had to patch on an extra bit of fabric before cutting out the yoke as I didn't have a big enough piece of blue jersey for both sides after cutting the under arms.

Here you can see the blue under sleeve, and did I have to patch a bit under the left arm to make the piece big enough, yes I did, ha ha! Told you it was Frankenstein's jacket, it's ok it is hardly noticeable.

The centre front panels are in two pieces but where I remade the pockets and added the blue I found that when I re-attached them I could line them up so it sort of hides the join.  If you look the pocket ends at the navy blue the line continuing across the front to the zip is the join.

There wasn't enough rib for the new jacket style even though the original was really big. So I made these folded strips of jersey from the offcuts and added them at each side.

I kept the back of the jacket all one piece but it had to be recut further down to allow for set in sleeves as the originals were raglan.  This means there are also little triangular details on the shoulder at the back too.

The under side of the collar is blue fabric scraps, I had to cut down the zip after I unpicked it and then line up all my bits on the front.

I handstitched the zip in first and don't worry about the messy seam I will cover that in a minute.

Here I covered the inside of the zip with jersey scrap fabric to make it neat, I am tempted to go over all the inside seams like this or is that going too far?

Just now though I should have taken a before shot of how big it was on me doh!

I hope this has been useful for showing you that you can take old clothes or charity finds and play around with them.  If you don't spend much you have the chance to learn a lot from doing things like this, all the while keeping in mind that it is ok if it goes wrong.  I am aware people go on expensive dress making course and are ushered down the road of buying the expensive pattern you will be making with the expensive fabric!   Wow what pressure that must be, I think you can't beat practising on old clothes, sheets, offcuts or whatever else you can lay your hands on.  As you can see I still like messing about like this after all these years, if you don't spend much you can view it as play and learning without the pressure.

Now under my re-fashion I have on todays me made May day 17, a self drafted skirt (sale fabric) a self drafted t shirt from a pinterest idea I saw (remnant fabric).

That is all for today I hope it wasn't too much with all the images, have a lovely week. 

Jacket Re-fashion Progress

Quite a nice day today and it felt almost normal, my friend called to pick up her birthday present she didn't come in just stood on the drive and we had a chat at a distance for ten minutes.  My husband and I had  a nice walk in the park and a stroll past the Greek pop hut that has appeared locally, after I noticed they had a vegan option my husband went back minus the dogs to stand in the socially distanced queue.  The food we had was nice and it felt like we had a treat.

For me made May day 16 I have on another mock jumpsuit that I made with Minerva fabric last year, this one I adapted a new look pattern for the trousers with a self drafted darted vest top.  It is comfy to wear.

This afternoon has been spent trying   to make the Burda jacket with the hoody re-fashion, there has been a lot of jigsawing bits together as there was no way I could get all the bits out of the hoody.  It would have been easier to size it down and embellish it but that would have been too easy wouldn't it?  I have used a bit of navy sweatshirt scraps but I didn't have much of that either so the yokes on the shoulders have a little triangle addition in the corners.  It is all one big experiment so I am completely relaxed about it.  Here is a peek...

Here that front panel is in two pieces due to lack of bit pieces, it is also upside down and I have already topstitched it across and down.  So that had to come off, see I said I would show the bad with the good.

Here one sleeve on as you see the under sleeve is also blue, the pockets that came off were quite small for a big hoody I have added a blue panel to those too.

I need to unpick the fabric from that zip as I just cut it off yesterday when I was in a hurry to get cutting.  At the moment I am undecided what to use for the front panel that the zip will go on, also I have cut a very small collar due to lack of fabric! If it doesn't work out it may be a tiny mandarin collar, we will see tomorrow.

Thank you for stopping by and enjoy your weekend.

A Bit of Re-fashioning

Another day, and I had to think if it was Friday or not all the days are becoming a blur. My husband is still on a mix of homeworking or in the office, today was an office day.  I did manage to get to the local nursery today and  three grow bags were purchased along with three tomato plants and two strips of impatience.  I thought I would buy a couple of things that will flower soon as my home grown  plants are many but a way off flowering just yet.   I transplanted three courgettes to one grow bag, the tomatoes in another and I am using the  other for planting up as they had no compost.  The whole world has to been to the garden centres in excitement you see so it is slim pickings!

Me made May day 15, half way through and this self drafted dress is just right for in-between weather.  I made a slim tube dress in red jersey to go under it (for modesty as the broderie anglaise  has holes and I didn't want it to be see through anywhere) this means it is a bit warmer than a usual summer dress.

This afternoon I decided to cut into this hoody, my son gave me this one as the arms are too short for him, he got it from a charity shop so it is double recycled.  I have worn it around the house when it was cold but it is ridiculously large on me and I have thought all along I would re size it.  So I thought I would experiment with it, I love my denim jacket pattern and wondered how it would fare in jersey. As this is already in my possession I  thought why not.

Now this pattern will not fit all the pieces on here once it is taken apart so there may need to be a few contrasting scraps of other jersey fabric in the mix.  I did not have enough fabric for  the separate under arm panels or front side pieces.  It will be interesting to see how it looks and either way good or bad I will share, it is only intended as an indoor cardi but will be useful to practise on for future upcycling attempts.

There is also a  mans shirt and a ladies maxi dress both from the charity shop rail in my fabric box waiting to be turned into something this summer.  Maybe another shirt dress with two colours so that may  be coming in the next few weeks.

Both my sons have gone out on a bike ride this evening and that is three times this week, it is so nice to see them doing things together now that they are grown up.  Everyone seems to be enjoying getting outside, I passed the stunt park yesterday and I have never seen it so busy, I know social distancing but try telling children that!  Which could stir up another conversation but I will stop there, I think we are all well aware how sensible young children will be on returning to School during a global pandemic ;) do you think??

That is all for today bye for now.

Comfortable Sewing

As dressmakers we often make things for best, or at least I do and that is something I have done over the years but have been trying to remedy in more recent years.  When I first began making my own clothes at sixteen the focus was always on an outfit for a Friday night out and not having much money being able to flick through  the catalogue and copy expensive dresses was such a thrill. Handmade and sew your own clothes was not such a movement back then so I was something of a novelty among my friends.   As  I got older and moved out I  no longer went out as often but I still used to save clothes for best and that was a bit of a waste.  This month is at the very least pushing me to wear all my clothes that I spend time on rather than wearing the same things. I have even adopted the system of turning the coat hanger the other way when I have worn something so I can try and wear something different each day.  It will be a test as some things are for the winter and I won't be wearing those clothes so it will be interesting to see if I can make it through without duplicating.

Now at first I thought I may be a little dressed up for around the house but now I think why not? Why is it ok to get dressed up to go out but not when you are at home with the people you love the most. So there, hopefully this will inspire me to wear what I want whenever I want in future.

Today I am wearing for me made May 2020 day14 my first mock jumpsuit, the fabric only cost about £6 in total for two metres and it is a cotton challis.  It was self drafted and to be honest the trousers  are a little low slung now I know I have a bit of this left somewhere so I could probably remedy that by putting a v shaped yoke in the top.  I will give that some thought  because I have worn it all day for gardening and dog walking and it is super comfy.  That is probably a good reason to solve the only issue with it to make it perfect.

The trousers are flat at the front with an elasticated back panel and belt loops, there is also a tie belt (I do love a tie belt).  The top was just cut from an existing vest top and faced with bias binding.  I am still wearing it, it's like wearing pyjamas but a bit smarter.

 Here I am contemplating my trainers.

I have spent quite a bit of time outside again moving on plants and we even tried our local nursery as I need compost and grow bags but it was packed with a very long queue so we took one look and drove away.  Maybe I will try again tomorrow, here are a few little plants out in the beds. They don't look much now but if they are like last years they will quickly fill out. 

Four little ones in there.

Five plus in this one as they were close together in the pots I planted them in and I didn't want to disrupt the roots so we will have to see how they fight for space.  There is certainly room for them to spread out.

I moved this pot that I planted up onto the wall and I am now hoping it doesn't blow off.

No making to  show for the day today as I have been doing other things, I always feel a bit like something is missing if I haven't sewn something.  Anyway I am going to say bye for now as it is nearly time to go outside and clap, back soon. 

An Old Favourite

Today has been quite busy, finishing up a bag and planning another, making a couple of face masks for my friend and sorting a few things on my laptop.  I can say I needn't have worried, my son sorted it out with the new part, restored everything and it is now running much faster.  It is difficult sometimes to remember they are now grown up and capable of so much, where does the time go? I was talking to grown up son earlier about something and he said 'do you want me to come and have a look?' I said no it is fine I'll sort it. Ha! what is going on there, how the tables turn, wasn't I just teaching him to tie his shoes and now here he is building computers.

For me made May day 13 I have on a favourite dress, again a number of years old but I love it.  Now I did find it is now a little tight across the chest, not too tight just so you can feel it.  If I gain even the slightest it will not fit  and that will be such a shame.  It is a self drafted, fitted shift with a satin lining and side zip.  I do tend to make things so they really fit but then that doesn't leave any room for slight gain or even a large lunch;)

Leggings with this one today as it has been so cold, when I took the dogs out it was paired with a big fleece and trainers.  Still no jeans this month, aren't I doing well I made a promise to wear this little lot this month and get through it I will!

I feel I ought to stress I do not spend a lot on clothes, and wearing all these outfits it might seem as if I do but no.  I keep my clothes a number of years, new ones I make are usually the result of fabric bought with birthday money.  I have a good eye for getting all sorts out of just one metre of fabric, recycling charity shop fabric when I can, and more recently this last year or so I have been fortunate to fabric test for Minerva  so that has provided me with some lovely fabrics to try out. One product that I got to test was a grab bag with lots of offcuts in it, I made all sorts from that  including a lovely little shirt and matching hat for my friends son, all completely free!

Yesterday I shared a bag make that was to be for me, well there has been a development and I have decided to list that one and keep the grey one I completed today.  The grey is more quirky and I like that with the brown more traditional. My husband said maybe list the one that is more suitable for sale, well that is hard to know as I liked them both but do people prefer unusual?   Anyway I rant on, I am keeping this grey one here...

 This grey faux leather is a bit different and I like the colour differences in it, I have used it on the reverse of the strap as I did on the brown one too.

After watching the one show last night and the talk of making face masks I thought I would make a couple as my friend has requested one, so she can have one to wear and one to wash.  I am not sure of the size so one is slightly larger.  They were just the basic pleated version as shown on the show but there was no real talk of how big.

They are double thickness, I had a bit of elastic but will need to order more so one has very slightly thicker elastics.  I have seen images of these all over the place but I am still holding out hope we won't have to wear them unless in really confined spaces. How sad if everyone was always covered by a mask we want to be safe but to never see people smile...

Take care.

Mending and Making

A quick  bit about todays  me made May first, another self drafted dress this time with set in sleeves the quick and easy elastic waist with ties and a lovely strawberry thief fabric ( not liberty but it looks like it).

I have seen fabric like this at twenty pounds a metre and more but this one was seven pounds a metre so much more affordable.  I would say where from but I can't remember, online I know that much.

My husband has walked down the back of his jeans, he does this a lot rather than have me turn them up when they are new he insists on wearing them too long until eventually there is a tatty bit at the back.  They had reached the point where they had to be sorted but due to the nature of the rip it didn't leave much to hem as you can see here I have had to cut up to the torn part and taper it a litte.  I had some other denim scraps so I have cut some thin strips that I joined to the hem to give me something to turn up.

After I stitched the strips on I overlocked them in navy and then turned the hem very close to the join.

Here it is on the right side and fortunately we have hardly lost much length just the amount that should have come off before they were ruined!

So that was one job done then there were a few holes that needed attention.  This style of denim is distressed but the trouble with that is they go through quickly on the faded shabby parts.

I patched them on the wrong side and then stitched on the right side too where the denim may fray out.

Here are the little holes on the right side, I don't quite get why it was distressed in this way to begin with just random bits on the back it is a bit odd.

My making for today was a new bag for myself, I have cut out two, one for me and one for my Etsy shop both different of course but using the same foxy fabric.  I decided to do this today as I keep collecting these little bits of fabric and then I am loath to part with them, so I thought I would do two styles and one is for me.  

So this is a gift to myself, it is a bit autumnal I know but I just loved the colours, the other one is almost finished and that one is grey with the fabric on the diagonal. 

What have you all been up to? Maybe a few have returned to work or managed to get out for a little longer in the fresh air.  Keep yourselves safe whatever you are doing, back soon.